Army Command Stresses Keenness on Places of Worship, Vows to 'Suppress Sedition'

The Army Command on Monday stressed its "keenness on places of worship" after its troops closed in on Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's gunmen who entrenched themselves in the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in Abra.

"Army units continue their military operations in the city of Sidon and the area of Abra to stamp down armed activities, arrest those who attacked army positions and restore security and stability,” the Command said in a statement.

“A lot of gunmen fired sniper shots at army troops while using religious centers as barricades, in addition to turning innocent civilians into human shields to avoid direct confrontation with army forces,” the statement added.

The Army Command stressed its “total keenness on places of worship and the lives of citizens,” while calling on “the gunmen who attacked army positions and citizens … to surrender their weapons and turn themselves in immediately to army forces to avoid further bloodshed.”

The Command noted that it knows the identities of the aforementioned gunmen “one by one.”

It stressed that “the army will press on with its efforts to suppress strife,” adding that its units “will not halt their military operations until security is fully restored in the city and its surroundings and until everyone abides by law and order.”

The Command also called on citizens, “especially those present in the conflict zone or inside al-Asir's complex and its surroundings, who are facing security problems, to contact the Army Command's Operations Directorate on the phone numbers 1701 and 01422245 in order to address these problems as soon as possible and evacuate them if necessary.”

In a previous statement, the Command said the number of troops killed in the fighting that erupted at noon Sunday rose to 16. There were also more than 50 injuries among the ranks of the soldiers.

A source close to Asir said at least five of his supporters had also been killed.

Our army boys are giving their blood, their limbs and their lives to protect our country and our freedom and this is how you say thank you. Shame on you.
hezbollah's weapons are a problem. 100 percent true. But this is not the issue now. Now our country is under attack and we need to be united behind our army to fight the terrorists.

assir commited a grave mistake,he is finished,he will be annihilated completely by the army that's no doubt about it...as for the army it will be a new era,becose what is b4 assir will never be like after.
the army after saida will impose itself to all arms outside the legality, or bibi....

Stop at people trying to link it with Hezbollah. Hezbollah is fighting in Syria, sunnis extremists have been fighting in Syria for years now, a lot before Hezbollah started to do. But what happen in Syria must stay in Syria.

Sunnis extremists would rather kill shias and army personnel in Lebanon just because Hezbollah is fighting in Syria? Hezbollah fighting in Syria doesn't affect anything in Lebanon. If the sunni extremists are against that, they should move back to fight in Syria.

But here they are importing the conflict in Lebanon and are launching attack on the neutral national army.

To sum it up, if you are against Hezbollah involvement in Syria, go to Syrian, pick up a weapon and fight in Syria.

Do not import conflict in Lebanon and do not attack the national institutions

Pakistan never ever elect mullahs( Religious wahabis) but our establishment / ruling elites are controlled by Saudi arabia and America . This is the reason taliban has killed more than 70000 pakistanis but our establishment is not willing to take action or fight against these uneducated wahabi jihadists .

No one talks about our Army like that. You talk about prostitutes, you live among them. In your family or any close relatives?

For the administrator of this blog at Naharnet, How do you let this idiot post something like that.

Anyways, Pretty simple, Have you ever served in the Lebanese army? Let me guess!!! God bless the Army and all security forces in Lebanon. I agree that Lebanon is not an easy place to restore the law overnight. But that doesn't mean you have to insult our Army who is composed of every single religion in Lebanon, from Muslims to Christians.

Respect that's one word with a heavy price. Apply that everyday 24/7 365 and we'll all see the difference.

Not their fault but HA's objective has always been to marginalize me and to use them to manage simple tasks such as traffic accidents, thefts, etc...

HA wants them under equipped and under trained.... The Farsi will say Israel wants this. Yet, the M8 government who raised the MPs monthly salary from $11.000 to $19.000 (for life, even after retirement) but don't have money to train our Army.

starsky. when some sunnites are fostering and financing salafi terrorism, when most chiites support the farsi party of weapons because he pays them salaries, when the christians are sclerosed in useless intestine old fights, When you are surrounded by an incompetent selfish political class, and you find a lebanese institution fighting and sacrificing for the good of the country, you can say the world GLORIOUS. Ghass min 3an ra2btak.

Army cannot act against HA for the simple reason that unfortunately hezbollah IS legality according to the lebanese system today.
HA, the party of iran, of weapons, that invaded beirut, that is stealing the port, that is covering criminals, has more than half the parliament with its allies.
So first war to remove HA's weapons is in parliament and through dialogue. not like those thugs.

People, you are either with state institutions and the rule of law or against it. There are no ifs or buts. Assir attacked the Army, a state institution. His men killed OUR soldiers. He must be absolutely and uncompromisingly caught, dead or alive. That's it.

HA is another organisation that is acting outside of the state and they must be dealt with as well. But as much as I loath HA's arms, they are not directly and brazenly attacking the Army so far, and I favor dialog with HA to come to a win-win situation that benefits everyone.

But right now the overriding priority is to crush Assir. You don't deal with Nasrallah's arms by allowing Assir to open his own shop like Nasrallah did.

There is a difference between respecting someone's opinion and actually agreeing with it. I'm trying all I can to keep this discussion civil, but unfortunately you keep doing your best to excel at cheap shots. Enjoy.

ASSIR is in Syria under the custody of the FSA...What? how?
How could the army allow the visiting sheikhs from tripoli sneak him out? Their visit was suspicious since they could have visited the army command to negotiate a cease fire rather the southern command which is not within their jurisdiction. It is the army commander who will decide on a cease fire. Did the army know about it and turn a blind eye? :(

Here is the "SIMPLE" math of what is happening and what is yet to happen. Sunni's more and more are starting to realize that if a Hizbullah member comes to their home and kills them or their family the security forces are not going to lift a finger to stop them or apprehend them that is now a "FACT", so Sunni's and Shia that don't agree with HA policy, and maybe some other factions will start arming themselves on individual basis to protect their family, than neighborhoods will start alliances to protect their neighbourhood instead of each one's family which will increase their effectiveness, and so on until you are going to have militias, THAN you'll have the start of the new civil war.

The we'll end up with Sunni equivalents of jaafar, meqdad, terrorists... HA is aware of it, yet they won't do anything about it. It says it all about their political and military agenda.... And religious one of course.

i wonder if FT and moooowaten would still be behind the lebanese army if they wanted to disarm hezbis.... i am sure they will call it tsahal that day!
enough of your hypocrisy! if you two are really for lebanon and a strong army then you also have to ask for hezbis disarmament!!! NO DOUBLE STANDARDS! or else you have to accept that other parties get weapons ! otherwise you are not logic with yourselves.... i guess stupid is more like it.